The Algerian War Policy Research

The Algerian War, also known as Algerian War of Independence, from November 1, 1954 to July 3, 1962, led to Algeria's independence from France and ended more than 130 years of French colonial rule over Algeria and the French colonial empire itself. But the Algerian War was not simply a war between France and Algeria. Firstly, the Algerian War was closely related to the two characters of that time, i.e. the development of the Cold War and the rise of the Third World and the collapse of the colonialism. Secondly, though indirect and delicate, the character of the United States in the Algerian War was significant throughout the war. Above all, the Algerian War is not only an important event in the international history of the post-World War II, but also a very good case in the study of the US foreign policy of the Cold War.During the war, the National Liberation Front (Front de Liberation Nationale, FLN), founded in 1954, created the National Liberation Army (Armée de Libération Nationale, ALN) to engage in armed struggle against French authority, and at the same time actively launched diplomatic offensives on the international arena to win over other countries, especially the Asian and African countries, to support and reinforce the national movement of the Algerian people. The French government, facing the challenge of the FLN, worked along both of repressing and appeasing, but gave priority to the former. Because of the instability of the French Fourth Republic, all of the French governments between 1954 and 1958 had no ability to solve the Algerian problem. After the breakdown of the Fourth Republic and the foundation of the Fifth, the French government, under General De Gaulle, gradually changed the Fourth Republic's fault and began to adopt free policies to Algeria, which finally brought independence to Algeria in 1962 and ended the Algerian War. According to the changing of the situation of the Algerian War and the Cold War, however, the United States showed different positions in different eras: first the policy of "middle-of-the-road but a little to right", and then actively and initiatively serving as catalyst to the finding of the solution to the Algerian problem. Though the study of the US's policy towards the Algerian War we could conclude that although the Soviet elements did not directly intervene into the war, the position of the policy makers of the United States were guided by the Cold War mentality during the Algerian War. The substance of the US foreign policy towards Africa before the 1960s was to keep the continent steady and to make sure that the European colonial power, such as France and Great Britain, could maintain their influence in the colonies and the countries which had been free from their dominion. The purpose of this kind of policy was to prevent the Soviet Union from penetrating Africa and at least to remain neutral between the two Blocs in the Cold War.